The present invention relates generally to improvements in drawer slide mechanism and it relates more particularly to an improved drawer slide track and roller assembly.
It is a common expedient in cabinet and furniture structures to mount the drawers or other sliding components by means of mating cooperating slide and roller assemblies. These slide and roller assemblies conventionally consist of a pair of longitudinal track members mounted on each side of the drawer and opposing side support and rollers slidably engaging respective track members and mounted on the opposite track members. It is a common practice to integrally form each track member, which is generally channel shaped, at one end thereof with a transversely extending mounting plate on which is mounted a roller and latch member, the roller carried by each track member slidably engaging the cooperating transversely offset track member. The track members and rollers are pre-assembled and each assembly is screwed to a respective drawer side wall or to a side support wall. While this construction operates in a highly satisfactory manner and has many advantages, it possesses numerous drawbacks. Among these drawbacks is the expense of the mechanism since it does not readily lend itself to automatic or semi-automatic fabrication. A serious problem which is encountered in such fabrication is the assembly and mounting of the roller to the mounting, particularly where the roller is of the ball bearing type which is assembled directly on the mounting plate as described in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 555,793, filed Mar. 6, 1975. In addition, the conventional slide member and roller assembly is frequently unreliable and of little versatility and adaptability.